UPDATE 2-Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

Reuters Staff

3 Min Read

Jan 7 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Monday:

* Sony Corp is joining with BMG to bid for Parlophone and other EMI labels on sale by Universal Music, reuniting Sony and Bertelsmann four years after they ended their music joint venture, the Financial Times said.

* Private equity group Terra Firma plans to sell assets this year that are likely to include the European cinema chain Odeon & UCI Group to raise more than 1 billion pounds ($1.60 billion), the Financial Times said.

* China's sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy a stake comprising between 4 and 10 percent of German luxury car and truckmaker Daimler, according to official Chinese media. The deal would cost between 1.8 billion euros and 4.5 billion euros ($2.35 billion and $5.87 billion) at the current market value. ()

* Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM is in "advanced" talks to take control of Italy's flagship airline Alitalia by the summer, Rome's Messaggero newspaper reported on Sunday without citing its sources.

* Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche is no longer considering a bid for U.S. gene-sequencing company Illumina , Chairman Franz Humer was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

* Bank of America Corp is in talks to sell collection rights on $300 billion of mortgages, two sources familiar with the situation said, in an effort to offload problem exposure after huge losses from its Countrywide Financial acquisition.

* India has shortlisted six banks, including Goldman Sachs , Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, for a selldown of state shares worth $2.3 billion in power producer NTPC Ltd, three sources with direct knowledge of the sale said.

* U.S. buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management LP is planning to sell most of its stake in Japanese lender Aozora Bank Ltd in a global offering that could be worth more than 200 billion yen ($2.27 billion), sources with direct knowledge of the sale said.

* German property company GSW Immobilien met its 2012 profit targets and may consider another capital increase if market conditions are favourable, its chief executive told newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

* Citigroup Inc is planning to ask regulators for permission to buy back a "minimal" number of shares, the Wall Street Journal reported.

* Flowers Foods and Grupo Bimbo are in discussions to acquire pieces of Hostess Brands Inc's bread business, as the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies sells off assets and liquidates, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the talks. ()

* The founders of Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd are expected to launch a $65 million initial public offering of Tune Insurance Bhd by the end of February, two sources close to the deal said.

* Passport Health Communications Inc, a healthcare software company partly controlled by private equity firm Spectrum Equity, is close to announcing a deal to buy Data Systems Group, according to three people close to the matter.